1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nail oil composition suitable for use as a nail and cuticle conditioner. This invention further relates to a nail oil composition including as essential components jojoba oil and tolnaftate. This invention also relates to a method for making a nail oil composition containing tolnaftate and to the method of conditioning nails using the disclosed composition.
2. Description of Related Art
Various compositions for application to or treatment of nails are known including nail polishes, nail polish removers, nail oil emulsions, and the like. These compositions range from those which are purely cosmetic to those which are primarily medicinal. On the medicinal end of the spectrum, there can be mentioned, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,382,151; 4,250,164 and 2,799,613.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,382,151 describes an aqueous-based, formaldehyde-containing composition which can be applied to fingernails to strengthen them against cracking and splitting. The patent further discloses that the product possesses aseptic properties, curing some inflammation of the matrix of the nail and killing fungi which occasionally infest nails. U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,164 describes a nail polish composition, which has added thereto an anti-psoriasis effective amount of a topical steroid effective againt psoriasis. U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,613 describes the use of dibromo-pentachloro-cyclohexane as a topical fungicide and bactericide and also discloses including it as an ingredient of nail polish.
Certain oil-containing compositions have been disclosed as being useful as nail and cuticle conditioners or softeners. U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,257, for example, indicates that sulfonated mineral oil acts as an effective cuticle softener; while sulfonated animal and vegetable oils are not effective. Other prior art e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,609, has disclosed the soaking of fingertips in a hot, aqueous emulsion of vegetable and animal oils to moisturize, smooth and soften the surface of the nails and the tissue surrounding the nails.
Additionally, applicant has previously produced a nail oil formulated primarily from vegetable oils, and including as one constituent jojoba oil, for conditioning nails in connection with the application of artificial nails and with nail sculpturing.
The use of these nail oil compositions for conditioning nails in combination with the application of artificial nails, nail sculpturing and the like, has created a situation favorable for the growth of fungi in the vicinity of the nails. Treatments using such oil compositions tend to enhance moisture retention in nails, thereby providing an environment favorable for fungal growth. Consequently, the recent growth in the use of nail sculpturing and the use of artificial or false nails has been accompanied by an increase in the incidence of fungal infestations or infections in nails.
Treating such infections with the prior art's aqueous-based formaldehyde-containing composition or the nail polish of the '613 patent is not completely satisfactory. Repeated use of such compositions, while potentially remedying the fungus infection, oftentimes harms the nails or contiguous area of the skin in some other fashion, or for other reasons such compositions simply are not desirable or convenient for the repeated applications typically needed to solve the problem.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a nail oil composition, which provides a safe and effective remedy for or prevention against fungal infestation or infection in nails, as well as a method for making the nail oil composition and a method for using the nail oil composition.